


Just a little dash of cinnamon

by FandomFrenzie



Series: Benthan week [2]
Category: Mission: Impossible (Movies), mission impossible - Fandom
Genre: Benthan Week, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, because i imagine Benji having a soft spot for strays, day 2: hurt/ comfort, we've got a cat in this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-08-23 04:30:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20236783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FandomFrenzie/pseuds/FandomFrenzie
Summary: Benji didn’t expect to start his day off with an injured Ethan wandering into his homeBut at least his cat seems to take a liking to him





	Just a little dash of cinnamon

**Author's Note:**

> So I was baking and couldn’t get cinnamon out of my head, then I searched up cinnamon cat’s  
Then I remembered I’m meant to be writing for benthan week so I smacked them together  
Abracadabra here’s the result

If someone had told him that having a cat would mean a daily dose of suffocation, he would have just gotten a goldfish.

Waking up every morning tends to be to a face full of fur and then an ear full of whining. It was better than waking up alone, he guessed.

Benji playfully pushed his cat off the bed, before wearily doing the same for himself. A series of pops and cracks sounded from his back, as he stretched. He let himself just stand there and blink the remnants of sleep away.

It had been a really nice sleep, surprisingly. Ever since he became a field agent, a good nights rest was practically unheard of, with his nights being filled with twisted sheets and nightmares that cling to him the day after. However, these nights seemed to become less, ever since he obtained the friendship of his cat- Cinnamon. Her now plump, fluffy body a complete contrast to the scrawny little thing she was, when he first met her.

He hadn’t been able to sleep and decided to spend his night by getting started on a cinnamon pie he had promised a friend for their birthday. He got his oven set to preheat, before scraping together his ingredients.

Bending down to collect a bowl, he heard an almost ghostly noise sound from his kitchen window. Slowly, he peered over the counter to see two round, orange eyes staring back. Benji wouldn’t be so proud to admit that it had him tumbling back in surprise. Once he recovered, he carefully approached the window again to realise the big orbs belonged to a cat, who had began to pathetically paw at the glass.

Immediately, he was throwing open the window to usher the poor thing inside.

It’s thin body was covered in reddish brown fur that was matted and damp. Its face was slightly pudgy, inhabiting wide, soft, orange eyes that goggled at him.

“You must be hungry...” Benji thought aloud, as he sifted his mind for food he could give it. He decided on some tuna- ‘cats like fish...right?’

Peeling open the can and removing its contents into a bowl, he left it next to the cat to continue with the pie. The tuna was instantly demolished. All that remained was the bowl that was licked clean.

With a stomach now full, the cat seemed complacent in listening to Benji babble, as he baked. He was placing the pie crust, that he had fitted into a dish, into the fridge then started on the filling. The whirring of his mixer filled the kitchen, as he mixed the cream cheese and brown sugar then beat in the egg and finally mixed in the rest of the ingredients. The fillings were transferred into the chilled crust and placed into the oven.

Breathing in the lasting scent of cinnamon, Benji happily hummed to himself.  
The cat was content, lying on his counter and gazing sleepily at him. Their fur had now dried and was soft when he gave it gentle strokes, untangling some of it. Benji assumes its a stray, from the lack of collar and poor physique, but luckily it seemed to have no injuries or fleas. He’ll still have to get it checked at the vets tomorrow as well as have a look at the missing animal board in town. For now, he was happy to believe he was keeping it.

“We’ll have to give you a name...” Benji’s eyes roamed the kitchen for an idea, before his attention was brought to the oven as its timer rang. An amused smile tugged at his lips, when he turned back to the dozing fur ball. “How about cinnamon?”

After that day, the name never failed to make him smile.

Reluctantly, he dragged himself to the kitchen and smacked on the kettle. At his legs, Cinnamon made herself known with mewls and head butts.

“All right, all right,” Benji mumbled as he made his way to the draw he kept full of cat food. He made sure it never went empty and had it labelled so his cat’s caretaker could easily feed her, while he was away on missions.

A couple days ago, he had returned from a mission that left some of his assigned team injured. They were all given a week to heal up, before being sent back out. This gave him time to lounge around with Cinnamon and make his way through his dwindling game pile. He’ll probably just chill with a zombie game today. You can never beat a simple game of brain smashing.

With the cat now fed and a tea ready, he started to make his way to the gaming room. He was abruptly stopped at the quite creek from his front door. The sound of someone’s footfall that followed had Benji abandoning his tea for a gun and sliding next to the door frame. Listening, he waited for the intruder to get closer, before stepping out and aiming his gun.

“Benji, wait!” There was Ethan desperately holding out his hand. He was slightly hunched with what remained of a top hanging off his upper body. Benji dropped his gun as if it burned and rushed to him.

“Ethan, oh my god! What happened?” Benjis hands hovered over him as he tried to find any injuries. His back made Benji pause with a gasp. It was covered in cuts that ranged in depth but all oozed with blood.

“Just a little bump in the plan, don’t worry. Do you have any bandages?” Ethan gently pushed Benji’s hands away, as if to brush away his concern.

“Uh-yeah! In the- um- bathroom,” ripping his eyes from Ethan’s back, Benji motioned for Ethan to follow him. They made their way down the hall, unknowing of Cinnamon who was trailing behind them.

Ethan was sent to Benji’s room and situated himself on the bed to wait for him to return. What he didn’t expect, was for a ball of fur to plonk itself against his side. Ethan looked in surprise at the cat that had began to send purring vibrations through him.

“Who’s this?” he asked when he heard Benji enter the room.

“What? Oh, she’s Cinnamon,” Benji informed him as he kneeled near Ethan and started sorting what he needed on the bed.

“Cinnamon.”

“Yes Cinnamon. You know, like the spice?” Benji teased.

“I know what cinnamon is Benj. I was just wondering how the name came about.”

“I was baking cinnamon pie and she popped up at my window,” Benji explained with a shrug.

“I thought you were creative with names.” That’s true, Benji is known to have come up with some truly bizarre names for things as silly as his kettle, which was called Barbra.

“I was tired okay? It was night and I had ran out of coffee so please excuse my sleep deprived brain. Anyway, she seems to be fine with it,” Benji reasoned with a head tilt towards the sleeping blob.

“Alright, do you need help removing that?” Benji motioned at the cloth that was more hole than shirt. Ethan looked down in contemplation before deciding to try himself.

After a series of winces and a hiss, Benji decides to step in and remove it for him.

“I can do it!” Ethan insisted like the stubborn bastard he is.

“Uh huh sure. Look, it’s done now, anyway,” Benji reasoned, showing it to Ethan. He swapped it for a clean rag he had doused in disinfectant before hand. “Now is time for the fun part.”

He got himself settled behind Ethan, mindful not to jog Cinnamon, and contemplated where to start.

Gently, he dabbed at the wounds, pausing when he felt Ethan needed a break.

The more stained with blood and grime the rag got, the cleaner Ethan’s back became, letting him see the true extent of his injuries. He could now see what he thought were cuts were really slashes from a whip. This realisation had Benji furrowing his brow in concern- what could Ethan have gotten himself into to deserve getting this treatment? Breathing deeply, he forced himself to calm down and keep his hand steady.

By the time the rag was more blood than disinfectant, Ethan’s back was treated and ready to be patched up. Not wanting to jostle his beds inhabitants, Benji unsuccessfully threw the rag in his clothes basket. He decided to ignore it in favour of collecting the bandages.

“So,” Benji started as he began to wrap Ethan up. “Want to tell me what happened?”

Ethan tensed under his hand. Benji patiently waited for him, letting his attention fall to the task at hand. Bit by bit, the painful welts were disappearing under the protective cover. He was happy to think that next time he’ll have to see them they’ll have started the healing process to soon become no more than a memory

.By the time he had finished, Ethan still hadn’t relaxed. To fix this, Benji peppered his back and shoulders with feather light kisses that softened the muscle under his lips. Benji then hefted himself off the bed to instead settle infront of Ethan.

“Hey, what going on in that big melon of yours?” he asked, pressing an index finger to the older’s forehead. That got a feeble chuckle out of the other, which Benji still counted as a victory.

“Something went wrong...” Ethan started, all mirth flushing out of his face. His eyes were glued to the ground, searching for a way to express his thoughts. “We were given inaccurate intel and we were caught. They wanted to know who we were and why we were after them. Once they found out who I was, they wanted to know more classified things about the IMF.” He stopped himself, reluctant to continue.

“Is that why they whipped you?” Benji asked carefully. He was ducking down to capture Ethan’s eyes, as a way to help ground him through the fresh memories. Weakly, Ethan nodded back. But there was something else. “What else did they do, Ethan?”

Ethan’s mouth opened to respond but no noise came out. Ashamed, he looked at his hands that formed fists on his knees and collected himself.

“They came to the conclusion I wasn’t going to break from being beaten. So instead-“ a breath “- they beat the others.” He rapidly blinked. “And I couldn’t stop them. They wouldn’t listen to me Benji. They didn’t care about any negotiation I was making or- or information that wasn’t classified.” His eyes lifted to meet Benji’s in despair. “Only one of them made it but they’re so _broken_ they might as well not have.” His voice tapered off into a whisper, his voice not being able to handle the guilt he was feeling.

“Oh Ethan-“ Benji lifted his hand to card lightly through Ethan’s hair. This was a secret comfort that he prides himself for finding. “There’s nothing you could’ve done.”

“I could have given them the information.”

“We both know you couldn’t have,” Benji’s hand moved to tuck a stray hair back. “That would have put so many agents in danger and you know it.”

“They were pleading for me to make it stop.”

“Hey,” His hands moved to rest either side of Ethan’s face, “I can see you replaying them in your head. Try to take a breath and listen.” Ethan’s eyes fell shut, as he did just that, focusing on Cinnamon purring at his side, the birds chirping and Benji softly breathing infront of him. “Now think of this: what would you tell me if I was in your situation?”

“What do you mean?” Ethan asked

“Well, if I was forced to watch my team get hurt because of me, while I was incapable of doing anything and was bloody hating myself for it, what would you tell me?”

“That it wasn’t your fault and you shouldn’t blame yourself,” Ethan replies firmly

“Exactly. You can’t hold yourself accountable for these things Ethan. I know that in this situation it will be so hard not to but you have to accept that these things happen in this job. Even superhumans muck up sometimes. It just bloody sucks that others were involved but I’m sure they wouldn’t have blamed you either.” Benji assured. “If it makes you feel better, I’ll call in to work tomorrow and ask when the funeral is so we can attend, yeah?” His hands were now enclosing Ethan’s in between them.

Ethan glances down at their hands before gazing back at Benji. “Yeah, That- That sounds good... thanks Benj.”

“No problem.” It was then that Benji noticed Ethan start to slouch even further. “I’ll be back in one second.” With that he scampered off, returning with some painkillers and a glass of water.

“I don’t need that,” Ethan insisted

“Please can you take it?” Benji pleaded “it’ll also help you sleep which will make you have a speedy recovery. That means you get back into action quickier.” He reasoned

Reluctantly, Ethan downed the water and painkillers at Benjis request.

“You’ll be greatful for it soon, trust me.”

Nudging Cinnamon away from Ethan, he helped guide him to comfortably lay on his side, before doing the same opposite him. Cinnamon curls in between them, ready for a long nap. Benjis hands find them self back in Ethan’s hair. Ethan hummed appreciatively, sucking up the affection. After a while his eyes fluttered shut, the painkillers kicking in and making the world a pleasant fuzz.

The sound of Ethan’s sleeping breath and the rumbles of Cinnamons purr had Benji drifting off as well. He wondered what he could bake for Ethan tomorrow.


End file.
